Blues U18 ready to go

Cardiff Blues Under 18 completed a clean sweep of pre-season victories with a 27-22 win over Leicester Tigers on Wednesday.

The Blues have enjoyed a tremendous pre-season with the win over Leicester following previous victories against Northampton, Gloucester and Munster.

And Blues performance manager Richard Hodges believes the success of his side will further boost the chances of his players receiving further regional and national honours.

Prop Leon Crump and wing Ollie Smyth both scored twice against the Tigers with Tom McAloon adding seven points with the boot.

"Leicester brought down an Under 19 side so there was an 18 month age gap between the sides," said Hodges.

"They scored twice in the last quarter of an hour and we were hanging on a bit at the end as the age gap started to show but in general we coped really well."

After an unbeaten pre-season, Hodges is now focused on the Blues' first regional game against the Dragons. But the victory over Leicester is further justification for Hodges that his side is on the right lines.

"I think it shows that the programmes we have got in place work as for us it's all about getting players into the Wales Under 18 squad," he said.

"Our second team also won a 15-a-side festival at Truro this week by beating Wasps in the final so it shows that what we are doing works."

Hodges will cut down his squad ahead of next Wednesday's game with the Dragons but he had nothing but praise for all the players who have been involved in pre-season.

"We are going to cut down the squad in the next few days but it's important that we get results to help get more of our players noticed for the international set up," he said.

WRU International Skills Coach Jason Strange is a busy man, combining the new role with that of Wales Under 20 attack coach, Ebbw Vale head coach and continuing to teach at Ebbw Fawr Learning Community.

Warren Gatland and Sam Warburton look ahead to this week's crunch RBS 6 Nations tie against France, where the Wales skipper in particular is keen to make his mark, as Paris has proved a bleak place for him in the past.

Following their historic win over England, Wales Under 20 suffered a narrow, 36-34 loss to their Scottish counterparts last weekend, despite outscoring them by five tries to three. Watch the match highlights and reaction.

WRU TV go behind the scenes with the Wales squad as they put the final touches in place ahead of the clash against Scotland at Murrayfield. Follow the squad on their captain's run, the kickers visit to Murrayfield and Neil Jenkins' press conference